The Biden administration just issued a new directive. If 25 percent of a school is low income, then everybody gets a free lunch. 
Free Lunch for Everybody
The Wall Street Journal comments on Biden’s Free Lunch for Rich Kids
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but the Biden administration insists otherwise. The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to provide free lunches to children—including many whose parents earn six-figure incomes—year-round.
As usual, this story begins with a supposedly temporary program. As schools closed in 2020, Congress allowed states to send extra payments to families whose children qualified for free and reduced-price school lunches. The following year, it added summer payments to the package, depositing money directly onto families’ electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, cards, which are used for food stamps. Finally, in December 2022, Congress made this “Summer EBT” program permanent—beginning in mid-2024. The USDA would automatically enroll millions of families and create a separate, means-tested application process for others.
The White House is now exceeding what Congress intended. In September 2023, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service finalized a rule that expands the number of students who qualify for reduced lunches during the school year.
[New Rule] If a mere 25% of a public school’s students meet the requirements, 100% of its students will be eligible to receive the benefit. The rule imposes no income limits, meaning middle- and upper-class children will get subsidized meals. The Biden administration also is preparing to add the summer months to the expansion.
No Means Testing, Just Free
Biden’s goal is free lunches for everybody, including summer programs, and he just found a way to do it for all the big cities.
Rich suburbs and parochial schools may be on the outside, but that’s about it.
The cost of this boondoggle is not yet known, but it will cost something, at least tens of billions of dollars. And with that, Biden just usurped power that belongs to Congress.
These executive orders and administrative rulings by decree have been very difficult to challenge because of standing.
A Question of Standing
Before the Supreme Court will hear a case, it must find that the parties have a tangible interest at stake in the matter, the issue presented must be “mature for judicial resolution” or ripe, and a justiciable issue must remain before the court throughout the course of the lawsuit. The final point means there must be a clear, easy remedy.
The Court has ruled that taxpayers do not have standing, nor do third parties not directly involved. It is on this point many lawsuits fail.
Who Has Standing Here?
Conventional wisdom suggests no one has standing in these maddening decrees.
I am not a constitutional lawyer (nor lawyer of any kind), but logic says this is an easy case to pursue, and with this set of Supreme Court justices, arguably winnable.
Q: So, who has standing by my reasoning?
A: Anyone in Congress.
Congress has a “tangible interest at stake in the matter” because Biden repeatedly and flagrantly usurps budget powers that the Constitution says reside with Congress, not the executive branch.
I await the day a Senator or House member files suit in a friendly district and wins. The ruling will be challenged in an unfriendly appeals court and the Supreme Court will have to take the case.
Perhaps this is not the ideal case for reasons I do not understand. But I am positive Biden has provided ample cases. Someone in Congress needs to pick the correct case to fight.
Politically Speaking
Politically speaking, the timing may not be correct.
People like perceived free lunches even though someone always has to pay for them.
The Left Is Suddenly Going to Like a Supreme Court Abortion Ruling
The question of standing also came up yesterday.
For discussion, please see The Left Is Suddenly Going to Like a Supreme Court Abortion Ruling
Standing is a copout though. I expect a wider ruling.
This will benefit Trump by taking some of the steam over the Dodd decision if he either stays out of it or better yet says the matter is up to the courts.
RFK Jr. Picks His Running Mate
Meanwhile, please note RFK Jr. Picks Nicole Shanahan as His Presidential Running Mate
This also benefits Trump. Please click on the above link for discussion.
“Free” lunch (for anybody) is pure unadulterated socialism.
For anything related to food it would be hard to have a one-size fits all plan. Consider whether issuing SNAP for Kids cards would work better than the president’s plan.
I think the low income parents of children attending schools that don’t get the lunches would have standing. Then again, if the food offering leaves too much to be desired, low income parents or their children wouldn’t so much care.
I also didn’t catch whether the president’s plan is cutting back on school lunches vs a plan to provide more free lunches.
Why not apply this rule to Social Security? The average recipient gets around $800/month. Many get a lot less than this and it is difficult for them to live on these small amounts, including buying adequate food. So why not increase ALL SS payments by $1000/month? Are you listening Biden? Plenty of seniors will vote for you if you do this!
Joey is paying off his donor obligation to the food processors. Sales to Big Ag will increase because parents above the poverty line will not have to pack their kids lunches anymore so it is a win-win
It won’t matter that the lunches aren’t nutritious nor are they edible. This is no longer the sine qua non of the school lunch program when JFK and Congress initiated it. It is more about the capitalists feeding at the trough at taxpayer’s expense. In other words, the US has entered into phase that Marxists recognize as state capitalism when central planning is the means to foam the runway for the donor base and connected capitalists.
Did anybody ever like school lunches? I don’t mind helping people out as long as they are making some effort to improve their situation
The simple solution is to have teachers and administration have to join the kids for lunch, and eat what they eat. All of a sudden the food will taste goodand be healthy.
Funny the picture chosen of lunchtime shows majority (maybe all) kids in photo eating a “packed lunch” That’s because they/we all know that Govt food tastes like cardboard.
“These executive orders and administrative rulings by decree have been very difficult to challenge because of standing.”
Isn’t that called authoritarianism? Shouldn’t Democrats be screaming that Biden is an authoritarian, as it is supposed to be a threat to democracy? Once again Democrats have shown they hate democracy and love authoritarianism, as long as they are the authoritarians.
What I have heard is sure different than the school lunches when I was in school 55 years ago. You had to present a ticket to receive a meal, and only one meal was prepared for everyone. What it was was published in the newspaper and handouts beforehand. It was fish on Fridays for the Catholics. I could have one prepared school lunch a week, and brown-bagged the other days. My mother said later that we likely could have qualified for free or reduced price lunch but they never bothered to apply for it. We had decent meals anyway.
This policy has been a total success in Cuba and Venezuela. Why are millions fleeing that countries? I’ve no idea.
“[New Rule] If a mere 25% of a public school’s students meet the requirements, 100% of its students will be eligible to receive the benefit.”
I don’t know that schools in Beverly Hills will qualify. In other BH news, the city may have to build some high rise apartment buildings in order to satisfy state requirements of producing new housing. However, a set of three 27 story apartment buildings in downtown L.A. sit unfinished, as the Chinese developer ran out of money. Taggers have made the buildings an eyesore.
I am very thankful “this will benefit Trump”…
as it is all about him…
and his Republican Party of One.
Sacrifice your dollars for the one & only needy billionaire…
and if golden sneakers aren’t your thing…
good news: tasteful Trump Bibles are now on sale!
The Republican majority in the House certainly has standing. What it doesn’t have is courage.
Need these kids to be well fed so they can grow up and pay my social security.
I imagine this is going to create a tremendous amount of wasted food.
Not sure what the rest of the country serves, but in Florida they only serve ‘nutritious’ food in school cafeterias. That means sugar free fruit juice, watered down milk, tasteless sandwiches / chicken and so on.
My daughter has for years refused to eat the food in the various school cafeterias even when it’s been free. She either takes a lunch from home or doesn’t eat. She’s brought a few items home for us to try when we questioned her about it and she’s right. It’s like eating an MRE. It’s as bland as can be with poor texture (chicken is like rubber).
I imagine what will happen is meals will have to be provided based on number of kids in the school but only a small portion will actually eat it, the rest will bring their lunches (anyone who can afford it) or having parents bring lunch (something we did on occasion when she was in grade school) and so a vast majority of the food will be thrown out.
In practice I presume they wouldn’t prepare food for the entire student population each day,rather get a head count in the morning and prepare accordingly. Presume breakfast will be worked into the arrangement too.
As for the fare, institutional-grade food that is probably loaded with salt to make up for the lack of freshness and degraded nutrients. Much closer to a gas station burrito than one Michelin star.
Wrong presumption. I assume that someone will have the contract for the meals and will prepare and bill the maximum amount each day. Maximizing revenues and throwing out the leftovers.
In that case the lunch staff would have to get a cut since that would mean ongoing, unnecessary work for them (not only food prep, but disposal and clean-up).
It goes without saying that graft will exist, but to think staff will make a meal for each student every day regardless of demand is not going to happen. At least it shouldn’t be as egregious as the Feeding Our Future scandal-
link to justice.gov
It’s mass produced food cafeteria style, not individual meals.
So if you have 200 kids, you need to prepare 200 servings of mashed potatoes just in case all 200 decide to eat that day. Even if in practice only 50 or so a day do. There isn’t any real incentive to make less since those workers aren’t going to get bonus’s if they use less food and Lord forbid they decide only make for 75 and one day 80 kids show and some go hungry and tell their parents…
It’s another example of ‘one size fits all’ Government boondoggle.
There isn’t a monetary incentive, but there is the bonus of physically not executing the labor to prep, cook, dispose, and clean needlessly, since odds are the nutrition staff are short-handed.
There isn’t a fixed number, as some places offer second portions gratis but most others will allow one to purchase a second helping. What then? Prepare 2 per student every day??
I am well aware that the meals aren’t made-to-order, but the notion that the staff will have no regard to typical demand isn’t right.
Wrong.
I live only 30 miles from one of the worst ghettos in the nation. Free food is just a drop in the bucket towards having a little better society down the road. Capitalism does not solve all social issues. Capitalism keeps our system running for growing food and feeding our society. Socialism has to kick in where capitalism fails to take care of our society’s needs.
Nonsense. You are completely missing the point. No one is arguing against poor children getting lunch. The point is that children whose parents make 6 figures do not need to be included.
We wouldn’t have so much poverty if we stuck to the capitalist program. The heavy taxes and inflation are creating poverty in the first place. The solution is lower taxes and sound money, not more welfarism.
Scrooge-“Are there no prisons?”
“Plenty of prisons…”
Scrooge-“And the Union workhouses.” . “Are they still in operation?”
“Both very busy, sir…”
“Those who are badly off must go there.”
“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”
Scrooge- “If they would rather die,” “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
It will be nice for those in the ghetto to have food to go with their $200+ Air Jordan shoes and designer clothes and iPhones. Maybe, just maybe their parents put the money towards food.
Capitalism isn’t broken, it’s non existent due to financialization of the economy that went into hyperdrive in 2009 and hasn’t stopped. We’re one step away (an inevitable crash) from the socialism you wish for. “Be careful what you wish for” because it won’t be only you who gets screwed.
Staying 30 miles away is a good strategy. Explaining how to solve their problems from that distance is not. Demanding others pay for your plan even worse.
How many overweight children are in that ghetto? I’m sure you can see some of them from 30 miles…
You should move 31 miles and give them the benefit of your genius, provide them with good jobs and education. Since most of these vote for “defund the police” and “2+2 = 4 is racist White supremacy” they are getting what they deserve.
Jeff, socialism can always kick in when someone else has more than you do.
State and local governments are the correct scope to address school lunch issues.
It’s always heart-warming when politicians try to buy our votes with our own money by pretending they are giving us something. This election cycle, watch for student-loan forgiveness to get the young adult vote, and perhaps freebies for seniors to get their vote. Even ethnic/race bribes for those votes. It’s all coming. The adults have left the room.
Feeding people or children having malnutrition. Feeding people is much better. Malnutrition is a force vector for more problems down the line. Get people their basics for a better society.
“Our future hinges on how quickly we discard DEI orthodoxy and simply make empirical decisions to stop printing money, deter enemies abroad,
enforce our laws, punish criminals, secure the border, reboot the military, regain energy independence, and judge citizens on their character and talent
and not their appearance and politics—at least if it is not already too late.” (It is already to late.)
link to amgreatness.com
Here is the Democrats message during the campaign, which the people will digest accordingly: “The GOP is criticizing Biden for ensuring that our precious children are properly fed during their school day, so they can learn at their best. Why does the GOP hate our children?”
Y’all know how politics works, it’s just like this. Looking forward to the general campaign? Whoo boy.
I have decided to open a School for the AGED and I want that 25% rule applied to my Patrons and then we ALL get to have FREE SUSHI or STEAKS and the trimmings.
I will rent a facility with Wheel Chair access.
There will be BINGO, I promise but only after the Conclusion of the 2pm Hour where prayers will be done and we will then have time to set up the Bingo hall, in an adjacent room.
We will also have ANY FREE SHIT that we can dig up from local vendors, such as left-over Xmas stock, and Easter Chocolate bunnies and so on.
We are going to scratch as much free shit up as possible, even a bottle of the GOOD SHIT every so often.
Will attend if the steak comes with 3 martinis … To be honest, Wall Street often offered that exact free lunch.
LOL. Alcohol only for the Help!
This is a place where I’m happy to spend taxes. All children should get at least one decent meal per day.
Isolating some kids by giving them free food and not others results in them being made fun of.
Punishing kids for making the mistake of choosing the wrong parents is cruel.
Well, define decent. If is it chicken tenders with white flour breading, french fries and sugary drinks, then that SHOULD be disqualified as a meal.
However, it looks like that is what the kids are eating anyway, so forget what I said here.
There a TON (so to speak) of Obese kiddies.
Nah, choosing the wrong parents is lazy and stupid.
Free Lunches for all, Minnesota passed a similar law just this year. Now, it’s going national. Government looking out for the taxpayers $$ once again. /Sarc
The ‘free lunch’ plan that Walz put through, although it sounds compassionate and thoughtful, has a couple of not-so-visible and insidious underlying schemes:
1) It teaches children that government provides food, thereby promoting and indoctrinating dependency on government to youngsters.
2) It may not now, but at any time, start to feed children questionable (or worse) lunches – like when the WEF/climate clowns decree that everyone should be eating bugs. For now, there’s no telling what kind of processed junk they’re serving.
3) During the ‘pandemic’, many parents pulled their kids out of public schools. In addition to incurring the time commitment educating at home, they also bear the costs to provide lunch meals. ‘Free’ lunches for all is a means of bribing these parents to re-enroll their children back into the clutches of the public education system.
If one is presently home-schooling, I think they should continue doing so, and not be enticed by this nonsense.
Well stated V59L.
So my grandparents and parents plus dozens of other adults that have counseled me through out my life were wrong after all.
There is such a thing as a free lunch.
It may wind up being a bitter, stale, “stuff sandwich” long term but by golly, it’ll be free!
Thanks Joe!
OH, come on now, there may well be Fried Spam and eggs. YUMMY.
Surely you mean ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ 🙂
Sorry, don’t you know, Dr.Suess is a racist!
So this policy says that feeding children of the rich is just as important as feeding children of the poor! More trickle down economics I guess. Are Dems trying to co-opt Republican ideals here?
Hopefully they won’t be spending this food money on chocolate bars. Cocoa prices doubled in the last year and just hit all time highs of $10000/ton. This will eventually work its way through the supply chain and raise chocolate prices down the road.
I guess cocoa production in Africa is declining due to overuse of pesticides, lack of investment, deforestation, and yes, climate change (gasp!). Perhaps less cocoa production will reduce the amount of forced child labor in Africa. Their kids get to work in horrible conditions so our kids can have chocolate. Life has never been fair, has it?
Unlimited chocolate for everyone, that is the clear destination.
The Dems don’t need to learn much from the Repubs as they are clueless, silent and stand by and let this shit happen, so we know that they are IN ON IT, but only simply have to have a couple of Talking Head Congress people do a press release or issue a “statement” which no one hears.
I read it’s the exact opposite.
Most of the farmers/farms are tiny and can’t afford pesticides or investments for modernization which is why crops are low.
Lack of investment is one of the reasons I gave. Poor application of pesticides (often over applied when they can afford them) has also caused a lot of health problems for the children working there.
Biden is set to announce the creation of a national “Strategic Cocoa Reserve”. Never a better time to stock up when prices are at record highs.
At least he has started refilling the SPR at lower prices than he sold for. 16 million barrels so far.
I can’t wait until the liberal crybabies in my liberal state to start screaming. They’ll swear up and down they didn’t vote for biden.
Our future has been planned and it will be more egalitarian. Free food, shelter and healthcare! No stress, no competition, no coming in last. Micheal Engel will be pleased! He can just go about his day torturing small animals without a care.
link to youtu.be
It’s about the connected contractors / suppliers. They will really jack up the price of FJB’s Halloween-sized Snickers bar and potato chip bag.